Model shot execution-style in front of her family

Authorities in Mexico are continuing an investigation into the execution-style murder of a model and performer who was gunned down in front of her family late last week.

The woman, 23-year-old Karla Karina Garza García, was shot in the head in the early morning hours of Friday after a group of men burst into her home in the La Hacienda neighborhood in the Monterrey suburb of Apodaca and held various family members at gunpoint. It is believed that Garza’s former boyfriend, who was previously killed, had been involved with a cartel or an organized crime gang.

The men allegedly burst into the house shouting, “Who is Karina?”

An official statement confirmed that the murder was not a random killing but a targeted hit. The killers are believed to have fled in a black Cadillac.

Paramedics arrived shortly afterward and were greeted by Garza’s distraught mother, but were unable to revive the model. She leaves behind two daughters, ages 2 and 5.

Her former boyfriend, Hilario Carvajal Lucas, was recently murdered in the Mexican city of Guerrero, in the adjacent state of Tamaulipas – an area of the country that has seen fierce fighting between the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas for control of drug trafficking routes.

In April, the bodies of nine men were found executed inside a house in a gated community in Apodaca. The men ranged in age up to 51 and were mainly laborers, including bricklayers, carpenters and mechanics.